Authentic Orange

Submitted by Jordan Quesenberry

The Guide to an Authentic Life

 “Throughout the longest era of humanity, There was nothing more frightful then feeling single. Being alone, perceiving as a single person, neither obeying nor ruling, constituting an individual – That was no pleasure then, but a punishment; one was condemned ‘to being individual’… In this respect we have reversed our attitude most of all” (Nietzsche, Herd, pg. 117)

–Friedrich Nietzsche

Being Real With Yourself

Authenticity is all about being real, true, genuine, and most importantly being real with yourself. The definition of authenticity consists of choosing in a way which reflects the nature of itself as both transcendence and facticity. Being real with yourself is an extremely important part of our existence. It is a part of the first existential theme, Existence precedes essence. Which means what you are is a result of your choices. (Lecture, 5/21/15) Choosing to come to Oregon State University was my first step into becoming authentically orange. I had to be real with myself and understand that I wanted to go to Oregon State for me and no one else. Choosing was my first step to authenticity in my new found orange lifestyle.

The Struggle

My struggle with truly becoming and living orange arouse very early, before I even got to school. I was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon and all my life I and my father have been huge fans of the University of Oregon. The struggle was not if I could cope with leaving the school I had supported all my life, but if my father could handle me going to not just a different school, but the rival of his beloved ducks. By making this decision I went through what Sartre would consider the third existential theme, Humanism; in doing this I was pursuing my own identity and finding meaning through the oppositions I faced. (Lecture, 5/21/15) I had to continually remind myself that I was not doing this for him, but I was doing this for myself, and I am able to live authentically orange because I know that every morning when I walk around campus with the new friends I have made, I feel at home and I know that I made the right decision.

Constantly Living Orange

In order to constantly live authentically Orange, you have to consistently be true to yourself and honest about who you are and who you are not. When you are pretending to be someone else or do things that you know you wouldn’t do, it begins to get into denying our transcendence or our facticity. You have to be totally honest with yourself and not do things just because you aren’t entirely sure what to do, and someone else is encouraging it because that would be considered denying facticity. (Lecture, 6/2/15) In a more school specific example, if you are known to procrastinate and spend time doing things you shouldn’t be doing in order to avoid those tough school assignments, and you say to yourself something along the lines of, “I’ll just make sure that NEXT TIME I study sooner and get it done way beforehand” that would be denying transcendence. I do my best to stay authentically orange because I know that I have an issue with procrastination, but I don’t tell myself that next time I will make a complete 360 degree change, but what I do is do little pieces at a time but just start early.

Remembering Who You Are

            Being authentically orange doesn’t start or end when you are in school. Striving to be an authentic individual of society is extremely important to living a meaningful, happy life, and Nietzsche emphasizes in his Eternal Recurrence. (Lecture, 6/2/15) He does this by saying, if you were condemned to live the same life over and over again, would you be happy and praise the god, or be furious and scorn the demon. Remembering who you are will help you to always be authentic, and remembering who I am and what values I hold most dear is something that helps me to live authentically orange in my community, no matter what struggles face me.

Submitted by Ian Stidham

Born into a world already filled with ideas, it can be difficult appeal to the internal rather than the external for our beliefs, particularly about the self and our connection to – and transcendence of – the material world. This can lead one to feel as though they have been placed into existence free, yet bound by constraints they did not entirely choose. Essentially, this is the concept of Dasein as “thrown projection,” which Heidegger posits can lead us to lose ourselves in a pre-defined world filled with social roles and responsibilities (Lecture 04/16/2015). The environment, appearing to us as part of our reality, intrinsically contains others who become a part of this environment, and these faceless others form what Heidegger calls the “they” (Heidegger, Being and Time, 126). This contributes to the creation of the “they-self,” which finds its meaning within the context of the “they” and what “they” place value on (Heidegger, Being and Time, 127). Our participation in the world of the others leads us to become one of them, further supporting the domination of the “they.” We do as they do. The more we lose ourselves in societal roles and expectations, the more we forget we created them. We choose to give power to things by giving them a slice of our being, and in turn we are placed in a category. These categories take this power and then alter not only the perceptions others hold of us, but more importantly the perceptions we hold of ourselves. These categories limit us; I am not a political party, a job, a Vegan, or a musician. I am. We are.

Paramount to one’s adoption into Heidegger’s “they” is a phenomenon described by Nietzsche as “herd instinct,” wherein whatever benefits the many is morally right (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 130). At a physical institution, such as a university, the pressure of the herd instinct can be especially strong. It can become a sort of sickness (Lecture 05/05/2015), a plight where the authentic self is suppressed by the expectations of others and the value an individual places on those expectations. Authenticity is the reflection of a person’s truest self, the point where the self is conscious of its coexistence with forces and influences external to it. People see the ideas and beliefs of other people and institutions and choose to give more authority to those things than their own thoughts. The external appeal to authority is more often a passive process than an active one. After enough repetition, one’s worldview develops so that this externalization of power is the ‘natural’ state of being, at which point the person no longer necessarily makes the distinction between their own beliefs and those of others whom they are repeating. We sublimate the natural compulsions we feel and experiences we seek into socially acceptable activities rather than what we think is right, or what is most in accordance with our authentic selves. By being inauthentic at a university, one might pursue a career field of study that does not align with their authentic character. They may do things or participate in clubs and organizations that are out of accordance with the self, and rather finds meaning through the paradigms constructed by the Other. Authentic living requires a person to access this environment of the Other in ways which compliment their being, not their doing. Being “Orange” authentically means engaging with the Oregon State community in ways that are representative of one’s authentic self; finding your trip within the herd, rather than with the herd.

Francesca Lee

In order to properly describe what it means to be “authentically orange,” we must first find the definition of authenticity. The word “authentic” is described as “not false or copied; genuine; real” (Dictionary). Oregon State University prides itself on diversity and equality, and to me, this is what it means to be orange. My draw to Oregon State is not the sports, or the Greek Life, but to the idea that everyone in Corvallis matters, and everyone at Oregon State is allowed to be themselves, and the most authentic version of themselves.
To be authentically orange is, to me, to be yourself. Attending Oregon State has taught me that above all else, I must be the truest version of myself that I can be. Often times, we see that those who live as their authentic selves are the ones who attract the most criticism. It is my thought, however, that this criticism stems from the longing from all people for the courage to be authentic. Nietzsche claims in On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense that “We still do not know where the urge for truth comes from; for as yet we have heard only of the obligation imposed by society that it should exist; to be truthful means using the customary metaphors…” (Nietzsche, 10). In saying this, Nietzsche relays the point that we do not know why we long for truth, yet being truthful is the custom of society. Thus, we lie unconsciously. To be authentic is to me, to understand ones lies, and then to find ones truths.
I have found that one of the most difficult places to become an individual is when one is growing up in an environment where one is taught what to think, say, and be, and therefore individuality is slowly stripped away. In my own experience, it has been particularly difficult becoming an individual up until my move to Corvallis for university. Attending private Christian schools for seventeen years made it difficult to be an individual, because I knew that I was supposed to be like everyone else. I believe that being authentic, and being an individual, is something that one can only do for themselves. It is difficult to find yourself, when you are told who you are. Camus states that the most complicated question in life is whether or not to kill oneself. He discusses the Myth of Sisyphus and how in this situation of the absurd, one can either kill themselves, find hope through external means, or to find hope in the absurdity. I believe that it is possible to find hope in the absurdity of life, and I believe that this hope offers the chance for one to be their authentic self. It allows for an individual to know themselves, without being told who they are.
To conclude, Simone de Beauvoir asks in his conclusion of The Ethics of Ambiguity, “is this kind of ethics individualistic or not?” He then answers his question simply, “Yes, if one means by that that it accords to the individual an absolute value that it recognizes in him alone the power of laying foundations of his own existence” (Beauvoir, 1). I believe that this sentence describes the essence of individualism in that it shows that humanity has the power to fulfill and bring meaning to his own existence. Above all, I believe that being authentically orange means to be ones most authentic self. Sartre, Beauvoir, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger all give meaningful glances into what authenticity really is.